Belonging & Diversity

Mission Statement

The BYU Department of History seeks to nurture a Zion community grounded in unity, mutual respect, and charity toward all (Moses 7:18), wherein diverse students, faculty, and staff thrive. We draw on gospel principles and historical knowledge and skills to achieve understanding and belonging.

We focus our efforts to achieve a Zion community in the following areas:

Teaching and Mentoring: We strive to help students become engaged citizens and leaders who are informed, empathetic, and appreciative of diverse cultures, perspectives, and experiences. We also seek to create an environment of belonging and growth for students of all backgrounds by offering a curriculum covering all the world, promoting pedagogy that invites open discussion and understanding of diverse human experiences, and mentoring students, particularly those from groups not well represented in the university community.

Service and Collaboration: We collaborate with departments, programs, and offices that share our commitment to diversity, equity, and belonging to promote events and services that make our BYU community more just, equitable, harmonious, and inclusive and help every person achieve their divine potential as children of God.

Research: In our individual areas of research, we strive to expand historical narratives to include more of the world's inhabitants past and present, including those missing from traditional narratives.

Related Department Initiatives:

• Student Awards and Scholarships
• Annual Lectures
  
  • Darius Gray Black History Month
  • Fernando R Gomez Latino Lecture Series
• Department Book of the Year
  
  • 2023-2024: Paul Reeve, Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood (Deseret Book, 2023)
• BYU Slavery Project
  
  • A collaborative project jointly sponsored by the BYU History Department, the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, and the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. Faculty and students study the legacies of Indigenous & African slavery and the founding of Brigham Young University, as well as campus histories of race and ethnicity.
• Civil Rights Seminars
  
  • Our faculty regularly run different sections of the College of FHSS civil rights seminars, lending their expertise to learning the history of these movements and applying lessons from the past to community building efforts of the present.
• History's Calling: Where Will It Take You?
  
  • Explore the possibilities. Hear from a variety of people talking about different career paths related to history.